BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Mayor Michelle Wu visited community members in Roxbury on Thursday, celebrating the $1 million of federal funding secured to provide emergency childcare vouchers for unhoused families in Boston.
Pressley secured the funding in Congress along with other community projects across the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District in December 2022.
The goal of the 15 projects, including the emergency childcare support, is to “to build a more just and equitable” district through “trauma-informed healthcare, workforce development, affordable housing, equity in education, environmental justice, and more.”
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At Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury on Thursday, Pressley and Wu met with struggling mothers and local officials working to keep families housed.
The funding “provides relief. It will save lives,” said Pressley. She described the homeless crisis as preventable and as a moral failing by policymakers.
One in 19 children under the age of six in Massachusetts experiences homelessness, according to Horizons for Homeless Children.
They are an organization dedicated to serving homeless children in Massachusetts by providing family support systems, high-quality early education, and opportunities to play.
"While we work to address the root causes of homelessness in the long term, we’re taking action now to mitigate harm and to ensure as many families as possible can access the childcare and other essential services that they need and deserve," explained Pressley.
Wu described the impossible situation families find themselves in when they don’t have secure housing and they’re dealing with childcare and job searches on top of that.
“How can you possibly be trying to find housing and get a job while you’re waiting to get funding for childcare so that you can actually make sure that your little ones are cared for?”
Pressley summarized the importance of this federal funding and the lives it will change, saying, “when parents are able to work and their babies are safely cared for, everyone benefits.”
The vouchers will go to families with children under the age of five.
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@MadisonWBZ) reports.
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